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Crews complete striping, signage aimed at bike safety on U.S. 36 in north Boulder

By Joe Rubino Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/20/2012 08:58:01 PM MST

Updated:
11/20/2012 08:58:54 PM MST

Robbie Bangi rides Monday on Violet Avenue next to a 'ghost bike' that serves as a memorial for cyclists killed on Boulder streets. Two cyclists have been killed at U.S. 36 and Violet since 2009.
(
JESSICA CUNEO
)

Crews installed new striping and signage Tuesday along a stretch of U.S. 36 on the northern edge of Boulder in an effort to improve safety in an area that has proven treacherous -- even deadly -- for cyclists in recent years.

Two cyclists have been killed at the intersection of U.S. 36 and Violet Avenue since 2009.

Tuesday's work resulted from an assessment of the highway between Broadway and Jay Road involving city, county and state officials. The stretch serves as Boulder's 28th Street but is maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation.

CDOT crews painted fresh striping along the western side of U.S. 36, including lines showing where the eastbound right-turn lanes of the highway at the intersections of Lee Hill Drive, Yarmouth Avenue and Violet Avenue become shared space with the eastbound bike lane.

They also added dashed lines that run across each intersection so that motorists on U.S. 36 have an indication that bikes also may be traveling across those streets, according to Bill Cowern, Boulder's transportation operations engineer.

City employees hung signs on posts near the right-turn lanes at the three intersections that say "bikes accepted," authorizing cyclists to use those lanes, Cowern said. The city also posted signs aimed at alerting westbound cars seeking to turn left on those streets that bikes may be present in the intersections.

"We hope that it will be a much safer environment for cycling," Cowern said. "There are quite a few people that cycle out there, and it was in the best interest of the city, the state and the county to make it safer."

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Community Cycles, a Boulder-based nonprofit organization dedicated to education and advocacy for the safe use of bicycles, began sending letters to CDOT about the dangers of the Violet Avenue intersection this summer. The organization was already concerned about the intersection, advocacy director Sue Prant said, but began to lobby for safety upgrades more forcefully after the death of Terence "T.J." Doherty.

Doherty was riding his bike east on U.S. 36 in the right-turn lane July 22 when a vehicle traveling west turned left onto Violet Avenue and struck his bike, according to the Colorado State Patrol. He died two days later.

The circumstances were similar to the accident that killed Casey Najera, 60, in the same intersection in 2009. In both instances, the drivers involved said they never saw the cyclist before the collision.

Doherty's cousin, Tim Kenkel, questioned in an email to the Camera earlier this month why it took the death of a second cyclist to spur changes to the intersection of Violet and U.S. 36. A "passionate cyclist" himself, Kenkel also questioned just how safe the upgrades will make cyclists.

"I commend the actions of Community Cycles for their insistence of forcing CDOT to review the intersection, however I believe the safest course of action would be ... to re-align the intersection so Violet intersects with U.S. 36 at a 90-degree angle so cars need to stop/slow down to make the turn," Kenkel wrote. "Paint, signs, and speed limits are all wonderful paper dragons, but since they go largely ignored, the best recourse is to change how vehicles can move from 36 onto Violet. A poorly designed intersection should not be the reason someone loses a friend, a fiancé, a cousin, a brother or a son."

Cowern noted that a portion of Yarmouth Avenue where it dead-ends into U.S. 36 was realigned to make it a 90-degree angle, but that work predates his 19-year career with the city. He said the last 100 feet of Violet will eventually be realigned to create the same effect at its intersection with U.S. 36, but the money for that work will not be available for several years.

"We're making those improvements in 2015 when we have the funding to do it," he said. "Our expectation is that (the new striping and signage) will make the area safer, and we'll certainly monitor to make sure that is the case."

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